Burnt Out Fire: Facing Past Pains
by DunneDays
Summary: Fanfiction of a fanfiction. A friend challenged me to create a pairing-one-shot based on one of his stories. Here is John Palin, District 3 tribute and Rakayah Danielson, District 11 tribute.


John didn't want to say anything, but his neck was in agony.

Leah, Matt, Seth and Trey had gone hunting for food and water about two hours ago, and with John's expertise with explosives, the rest of the alliance had managed to create a cleverly disguised mine system that completely shielded them from unwanted visitors.

John had pressed himself behind a tree nearby, fiddling with a broken mine in an attempt to distract himself from the pain of his mutt-torn neck. It wasn't working.

He was far enough away from the others that he couldn't hear their conversation, though if he could, he would not have been happy.

"We can't carry that deadweight around all the time," Dianna was saying.

David nodded. "He's good with tech, but that's it. He's not worth keeping alive."

"We can't just leave him!" Tyler retorted. "He's helped us out so far! We need to do the same for him."

"It'll be mercy," David argued. "He's probably going to die anyway, and one of us is going to end up having to kill him at some point. Only one can win, after all."

"That's right. He's doomed," agreed Dianna. "Better to end his suffering now."

Tyler frowned. "He said he wasn't in too much pain! He's not too badly hurt, so he can still help us!"

"Help us with what?" David asked. "We've got a mine shield now. He's outlived his usefulness."

"You can't criticise him, David!" Tyler warned the District 12 tribute. "He scored higher than you in the training room!"

Rakayah had heard enough. She was being silent in the debate, the only one to do so. She stood and left them, wandering a short distance into the trees nearby.

She found John propped up against a tree. She didn't recognise the tree, but that didn't matter. Trees weren't really District 11's forte.

"Hey," she greeted him.

He looked up at her, having not heard her presence before. "Hi," he replied after grimacing slightly. Turning his head to see her was obviously not a good idea.

She sat down, so he didn't have to crane his neck. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I've been better," replied John with a smile.

She returned the expression, "Yeah, I bet you have."

"So..." John trailed off.

"So," Rak nodded. She sighed, and they both fell silent.

"That Jadson guy," John finally said. "Do you know him?"

Rak thought back to her fellow District 11 tribute, West Jadson.

"Not before the Games," replied Rak. "I don't know where he is now."

John tilted his head slightly in a mock nod.

"What about you?" Rak finally said. "Your sister, Jess. Aren't you bothered that she's..."

His mouth formed a line. "She wasn't the best sister."

"Why not?" Rak asked.

John frowned, and then closed his eyes. "A few years ago, Jess and I were in a factory fire. We survived, obviously, and our District is really good with technology. Like, really good."

"So...?" Rak prodded.

"We needed replacements," John said, waving away the word vaguely. "Some replacement parts. But... I dunno. Jess was never the same, really. She was programmed to hate me."

"Programmed?" Rak repeated blankly.

John nodded. "Programmed. Like a computer." He tapped his head, saying, "Up here, it's more metal than flesh."

"Wow," Rak exhaled.

John opened his eyes and looked at her. "What about you? How's D-One-One?"

"Ha, it's okay," Rak replied, a sad look in her eyes. "The Peacekeepers are pretty strict. The Capitol needs food to survive, after all, and we're the District that provides it." Rak looked away. "It's not easy. You'd think it would be. You'd think we'd get enough food. But we don't."

With a start, John realised that Rakayah had begun to cry. He quickly raised himself and wrapped his arms around her.

They sat there for a while, hugging, as Rakayah cried and John patted her back.

Eventually, Rak sobbed herself dry, and pulled away from John.

"You're much braver than I am," John told her, pulling her head down to give her a kiss on the forehead, but she moved away, and he ended up kissing much lower.

"Oh," was Rak's reaction after feeling John's lips brush past hers (on the way to her chin).

"Sorry!" John started immediately. "I didn't... I..."

Rak simply smiled at him, her tear streaked cheeks ballooning slightly under her eyes.

She turned, and looked around the tree to the camp. "I think they're setting up a fire," she said. "Wanna go join them?"

John gave a light smile, and accepted Rak's offered hand as she stood up.

**Notes: I was "dared" by one of my friends (the author of Burnt Out Fire) to create a one shot based on one of his stories. Any pairing I wanted, he said. So of course I chose the character based on myself and the character based on my internet wife. I hope this will meet his standards, but I'm way too lazy to make this any longer.**

**Also, some things may be out of universe/character according to his story. But there are loads of one-shots like that.**

**Anyway, that's that. I'm done here. **


End file.
